Guns, skis, ice picks? Texans fight hard to reach ‘Chef’ final

However, it was a hard fight to the finish – involving ice picks, skis and a gun — before Paul Qui of Austin (far right in pic) and Sarah Grueneberg of Houston (far left) were passed through to the final three.

And really, it’s not “Top Chef: Texas” anymore, but “Top Chef: Canada.” The setting for this two-part finale is far from the scorching heat of San Antonio where the last several challenges were set. Instead, they battle it out in bitingly cold British Columbia. Wednesday’s challenges were nightmarishly tough – maybe the hardest of the season. They weren’t fought just in a kitchen, but outdoors in freezing, snowy mountains.

First, all four remaining chef-testants – including Lindsay Autry of North Carolina, who’s cute in a long-suffering way, and “Last Chance Kitchen” upstart Beverly Kim of Chicago – were charged with cooking a pleasing dish while being jostled around a moving gondola high above Whistler Mountain.

Lindsay’s food was the winner and she was sent through right away to the last stand next week in Vancouver.

Then, Paul, Beverly and Sarah were taken to a some huge blocks of ice, filled with fish, crab, vegetables and other ingredients and, armed with a pick, were expected to break open the blocks, retrieve the food and defrost them and cook them in a short space of time.

The victor: Paul, our most consistently good Texas chef. That left the two female contestants, who were at odds with each other throughout the competition, to face off for the final spot.

Even scarier, Sarah, who clearly still harbored a grudge against her opponent, and Beverly would be given loaded guns as part of the challenge. After slip-sliding on skis to get to the shooting range, the two were told they needed to shoot targets tagged with ingredients before they could get the real things to prepare. Though Sarah had more shooting experience – rifles and tin cans back in Texas – Beverly was first to hit a bunch of targets and snag ingredients.

At one point, I thought the frustrated Sarah might lose it and turn the gun against her petite “Top Chef” rival.

No blood was shed, however – and it was Sarah, and her cherries and rabbit concoction, that wowed the judges more.

Next week: The three survivors are taken to Vancouver where they must create a dish and cocktail that fuses the concept of fire and ice. “Top Chef” describes it as a culinary testament of their journey from blazing Texas heat to blistering Vancouver cold.

My hope: that Austin’s Paul takes it all as he’s not only proved his prowess consistently throughout the 15 prior episodes, but also has remained a gentleman along the way.